Harry Gruyaert - Lumieres Blanches - 1986

“Color is a means of sculpting what I see,” as Degas would undoubtedly have said of his pastels, which had nothing to do with dance. “Color doesn’t illustrate a subject or the scene I’m photographing; it’s a value in itself. It’s even the emotion of the photograph.”

From the beginning, color is the brilliance of the image. - excerpt from the introduction by Alain Macaire; text by Richard Nonas translated by Brice Maththiessent, color photographs.

Lumières Blanches is the photobook published in 1986 to accompany the exhibition of the same name held at the Palais de Tokyo (Paris). That same year, Harry Gruyaert joined the prestigious Magnum agency. Lumières Blanches is one of the most representative works of one of the greatest masters of color and of giving it a specific prominence in his photographs. An indispensable piece that has influenced generations of street photographers...